XVIIth  NUCLEAR PHYSICS DIVISIONAL CONFERENCE "NUCLEAR PHYSICS IN
ASTROPHYSICS"

  The 17th International Nuclear Physics Divisional Conference of the
European Physical Society "Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics" was held in
Debrecen, Hungary from September 30 to October 4, 2002. This conference was
originally planned to take place in Eilat, Israel in 2001. For security
considerations it was moved to Debrecen. The program was very similar to the
one planned for the Eilat meeting.

 The main objective of the conference was to deal with the subjects
of nuclear physics that are important for the understanding of astrophysical
processes, with emphasis was on recent theoretical and experimental
developments. The topics discussed at the conference included: i) cross-section
measurements and nuclear data for astrophysics, stellar and Big Bang
nucleo-synthesis, ii) the application of nuclear structure far from the
stability line to astrophysics, iii) neutrino physics, iv) nuclear reactions
pertaining to astrophysics, v) rare-ion beam facilities and experiments , and a
few other diverse topics.

The program of the conference included 26 invited and 30 contributed lectures,
delivered  by speakers representing 22 countries. In addition a poster session
was organized which was very lively. There were a number of talks related to
neutrino physics including some of the most recent experimental results (for
example those of SNO and LSND on neutrino mass measurements), results in the
field of nuclear reactions of astrophysics relevance, measurements of radiation
from rare and very short-lived nuclei that may be a window into a better
understanding of nucleo-synthesis. The importance of studying exotic nuclei in
order to understand astrophysical processes was widely stressed. The activities
of various large laboratories in the world (and in particular in Europe) in the
present and future were presented at the meeting. There were also a number of
talks of more general interest on dark matter, relativistic heavy ion
collisions, cosmology as well as a talk on public awareness of nuclear science.
The talks have lead to lively and in-depth discussions and interaction among
the participants. The proceedings of the conference will be published in
Nuclear Physics A.

The breadth of the European activity in these fields of nuclear astrophysics,
as revealed at the conference, is truly impressive. This seems to be one of the
most important future directions of research world wide. In particular pleasing
was the participation of a large number of young researchers. Among the 100
conference participants, 35% were scientists under the age of 35. It is
obvious that this subfield of nuclear physics has a bright future. Reflecting
its success, the Nuclear Physics Board of the EPS is considering the
possibility of having this type of conference "Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics"
on a regular basis.

During the meeting Claus Rolfs was awarded an Honorary Membership of the Roland
Eotvos Physical Society for his contributions to the field of nuclear
astrophysics in general and for his help in the development of this field in
Hungary in particular. The short ceremony was followed by a lecture presented
by the recipient of the award.

The conference was organized by the Nuclear Physics Board of the EPS and by the
the Institute of Nuclear Research (ATOMKI) in Debrecen. The conference was
sponsored by the European Commission, Human Potential Program, the EPS Young
Physicist Fund, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungarian Ministry of Education,
Hungarian National Fund for Scientific Research. In addition, the initial
stages of organization were sponsored by the Ben-Gurion, Hebrew, Tel-Aviv
Universities and the Weizmann Institute in Israel.

N.Auerbach
School of Physics and Astronomy
Tel- Aviv University

Z.Fulop
ATOMKI\, Debrecen